1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a sliding mechanism used for sliding a housing of a portable device such as a portable terminal device and other electronic apparatuses, and more particularly, to a sliding mechanism that slidably connects a plurality of housing units, and an electronic apparatus and portable device that have the sliding mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
A portable device such as a portable terminal device that includes a sliding mechanism is known. A housing thereof is divided into a housing unit of a display side and a housing unit of an operation side, thus each housing unit is made slidable. When such portable device is used, a housing unit is slid to be opened for display or operation. When the portable device is not used, the housing unit is closed to be enabled to be lessened.
Concerning a portable device including such sliding mechanism, Japanese Patent Application laid-Open Publication No. 2006-270804 (Abstract, FIG. 1, etc.) discloses that first and second casings are provided, the first casing provides a base member having guide groove(s) and the second casing provides a slider engaged with the guide groove. A biasing means provided between the base member and the first casing, being coupled between the base member and the slider, slides the slider in a closing direction or an opening direction from an opening/closing position.
Japanese Patent Application laid-Open Publication No. 2006-246353 (Abstract, FIG. 3, etc.) discloses that a slidable upper case and lower case are provided. Slide grooves are disposed in each upper and lower case. Via slide grooves of the lower case, slide connection members are fixed to the upper case. Via slide grooves of the upper case, a slide connection member is fixed to the lower case. The upper case and the lower case become slidable by means of each slide connection member one after the other, with a stable connection form in which the upper case and the lower case are mutually connected.
In opening/closing assistant structure in which an upper housing and a lower housing are slidably connected via a slide module, in opening, tension of a spring member is made to operate on the upper housing in order to move the upper housing in an opening direction and in closing, tension of the spring member is inverted to be made to operate on the upper housing in order to move the upper housing in a closing direction. In such sliding mechanism, a slide module connecting an upper housing and a lower housing consists of a fixing part, a slider part, a spring part, etc. Shaking occurring in a lateral direction or a thickness direction of a device in opening or closing depends on accuracy of the slide module. For suppressing such shaking, accuracy of the slide module has been improved. However, it has been difficult to suppress wear by use and shaking by aging. It is more desirable that shaking in a lateral direction or a thickness direction of a device in opening or closing is as little as possible.
In opening and closing, because the fixing part of the slide module and a guide of the slider are connected, and in an opened state, the slider moves in an upper direction from an upper part of the lower housing, a rear surface of the upper housing is within the range of the slider side. For this, efficient use of a mounted area in the device is narrowed, and the device cannot be thinned.
Conventionally, a slide module and a slider are made of metal. If the slider guide is exposed to the rear surface of the device, there is risk that a user touches the exposed part of the slider guide. It is not preferable for safety.
When the device is opened, clearance of a spring in the slide module is necessary for the slider of the slide module connected to the rear surface of the upper housing. There is risk that a foreign object such as trash enters the clearance and the slider languishes.
If there is shaking in a single slide module, great shaking occurs to the device that is opened and closed by the slide module in opening and closing. The shaking gives a user a feeling of roughing.
There is no disclosure and suggestion in Japanese Patent Application laid-Open Publication Nos. 2006-270804 and 2006-246353 concerning such requests and problems, and the structure disclosed in Japanese Patent Application laid-Open Publication Nos. 2006-270804 and 2006-246353 cannot solve the above problems.